A bit of everything

I've managed to stay busy lately with a bunch of things. Of course, some of the more "routine" things of life have started up again - weekly youth meetings, violin lessons, Bible study, etc. Always welcomed after the summer, but it still somehow takes a bit of an adjustment to get back into the swing of it all.

I've done a bit of jam making again this year. My strawberry jam took me two tries. Martin and I really wanted to have sugar free jam - and since I'm stubborn enough, if it takes 2 times to get it right, then that's what I'll do. It tastes pretty good, although a bit different (more tangy) then all of that sugar loaded jam.

Yesterday a friend came over and we canned peaches. Also a sugar-free variety. Don't they look fantastic?!

Today I will attempt the peach jam. Again, sugar-free. Hopefully I can do it in one go this time :)

I have also been spending a bit of time working on the crib bedding for the little one we are waiting for. I had seen something with brown and white polka dots - and absolutely loved it - and I was determined to find a similar fabric to work with. It took a bit of hunting - but I found it... and I love it!

Figuring out what exactly to do with it was a different story... but thanks to some tips from others, and my mom's quilting expertise, this is what it's looking like so far. You'd never guess that I spent a very frustrating morning looking for the brown and green borders... and while they're different than what I had in mind at first (why would a store have every color of corderoy except for a nice chocolate brown??) I'm liking the result. I'm currently working on hand-stitching around a few of the dots to make them "pop" a bit (not my idea - but a suggestion that I absolutely loved!). I'll be making a roman shade to match it - I'll show you that when it's done.

Anyways, on to making jam, doing laundry, cleaning gutters, etc. I've got another full day ahead!

A day with my brother

It worked out well to be camping a bit more north in Ontario, because it meant we were only an hour and a half away from my brother & his fiance. So the day after we got to the campground, we took the day to go spend time with Thys. Leah was working that day, so she could only join us for supper. We had a beautiful and fun day - spent mostly on a lake near his house.

We spent a couple hours here - relaxing on this little spot on the beach
or playing frisbee in the water.

Then we cruised around in his little boat for a while. This

area is beautiful! We were trying to imagine how amazing

this place would look in the fall!

Thys had mentioned something about cliff jumping quite

a way down the lake - a spot we didn't have time to go

to anymore that day - but then we came across

this little spot - and the boys decided it was also a

great spot to jump from!

Checking it out...Taking the plunge!The view from the topWhen we got back, Thys and Leah made us a delicious dinner.

We finished off the day with a campfire and s'mores and pie - even though we were still stuffed from dinner! It was a good day.

Camping in Ontario

Part of the reason we picked these particular days for our trip to Ontario was to join in on the annual camping trip with a few of Martin's cousins and their families. We had a fantastic and relaxing time together at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

We were pretty proud of this setup! Martin & I had

our own site a little ways down - but we spent the

majority of our time at J&M's site... they had all the food!! :)

Since J&M did most of the planning and looked after us

so well - we figured it was only fair if we at least took

care of doing the dishes!

A little hike/walk we went on

Checking something out with Uncle Martin

Snack time after our walk

We spent most of the afternoons at the beach

And then came the rain...

They had a little interactive thing about logging, so

a bunch of us went there - a little change of scenery

from our tarps at the campsite. They had a couple

little games to play - so that's what me and Zach

are doing

All the mom's had been prepared - and so the

kids got to go from site to site to do a different

craft - coloring, painting rocks, etc. It kept the

kids entertained well. Martin & Joel took the chance

to play a game of chess.

Some one had this brilliant idea so we could still enjoy our

campfire that night! The rain actually let up for the whole

evening - so we didn't end up needing them - but

it looked kinda neat!

I guess that sums up the camping part of the trip! We considered going home on that really rainy day, but were glad we stuck it out. We had really looked forward to camping with everyone - and we weren't disappointed!

The trip there

Ok. Over 3 weeks since the last post. Wieska's been busy so I (Martin) thought I would fill in for her this time.

So, our vacation....

I have come to realize that vacation is really a privilege and a blessing. I am sure there are many in the world who do not think of vacation or holidays like we do. We were very thankful to have the opportunity this year to go to Ontario for 10 days.

We left on a Thursday night, catching a red-eye flight across to Ontario. We stopped over in Calgary and had a quick coffee with Wieska's sister, Rianne, before we continued to Toronto.

Arriving in Toronto we had rented a car from a place that was about 5 miles from the airport since it was less that half the cost of renting directly from the airport. So, we picked up our bags and went to find a taxi. That was easy until the driver told us it would be $30 to drive us 5 minutes away! We dropped that idea and decided to take the city buy - except that there were over 5 city buses at the airport. After asking questions we located the right bus which took us close to where we wanted to be. As we walked the remainder of the way, a lady stopped and offered us a ride which we gladly accepted. Renting the car was a smooth process and we hit the road toward Chatham - the place where I grew up. We didn't last long, however, and found a rest area where we caught some much needed sleep.

After 2 hours of sleep we had a quick lunch and carried on only to be stopped by a flat tire 15 minutes later. Problem was, our beautiful little rental car had a spare tire but no jack - and Wieska wasn't strong enough to lift the car while I changed the tire. Thankfully we were near a rest area and could borrow somebody's jack

Notice the nice dog poop I managed to step in with my right foot.

With the little donut on the tire we managed to find a tire shop only 20 mintues away and they had a new (used) tire on the car in a few minutes. So we carried on without incident to Chatham
We dropped in on a few people in Chatham - one being my old friend back when I lived there. It was good to drop in and catch up a bit.

We also visited a few of my old teachers from school back then. Following our visits we grabbed an ice cream and decided to drive the 2 hours to Mitchell so we wouldn't have to do any driving on Saturday. We arrived at Joel and Marianne's around 10:30 pm. glad to be done our travelling stint for the weekend.

Youth camp

As I mentioned in my last post, youth camp this year was fantastic! We had great weather, great youth, great cooks and other volunteers, and just an all-around great time!
There were three activities to choose from on the Friday and Saturday... canoeing, hiking, or the "lazy day" of going to the Othello tunnels and then just hanging out at the beach at Kawkawa Lake.

There was lots of time for other fun and games too:

One of the biggest hits was the "slip and slide" that a couple of our youth came up with. The camp is built on a slope, which was perfect for this! They spent hours on it!

We also used it in a relay-type game of "Ultimate Spoons". Definitely a fun twist to that game! (Going around the crates down the slip and slide, running for a ball, putting an olive in our mouth on the way to popping a balloon for a ribbon inside it and then running up the hill for a spoon!)

I got to spend my birthday up at camp this year. They decorated the dining hall for me... and this was my "breakfast birthday cake" :)

As the intent for this weekend was not only to grow in our relationships with others, but also in our walk with God, we also spent some time in His Word. The theme for the weekend was "Denying the power", which is a little phrase taken from 2 Timothy 3:5, which says that in the last days, there will be people "having a form of godliness but denying its power". The focus was on powerful godliness - what prevents it, and how we can have it. Definitely practical and relevant.

We had a fantastic bunch of youth come out for this - and it was a tonne of fun getting to know them. Of course, something like this can only happen as a team effort... and so again, thanks to those who met with us several times to plan the camp, those who volunteered to chaperone and help out with driving, etc., our fantastic cooks, and our speakers. Camp wouldn't have been the same with out each one of you!

Where to start...

We've had a few busy but fun weeks the last while... and I'm trying to figure out how to best tell about them. The second weekend in July was youth camp, which was a fantastic time! After that, we had a few days to clean up from that and pack up for the next thing... our trip to Ontario! The last few years a group of Martin's cousins and their families go camping out there, and we figured it would be fun if we could book a trip to Ontario around that time. Finally this year it worked. It was definitely worth looking forward to this trip! There was lots of driving and visiting (some of Martin's old acquaintances from when he lived out there, his brother and family and other relatives, my brother...), but it was relaxing too.
I think I'll just do what I did last year after our vacation and tell about it little bits at a time.

I discovered...

...that I really enjoy digital scrapbooking! I've been thinking about doing this for a while - but didn't have a good program for it, and just wasn't sure if I'd like it. Our adoption profile had to include some picture pages, and I had to make several copies of it, so I figured it would be a good time to try it out. A friend of mine let me know about a great Costco coupon that made the program I wanted (Photoshop Elements) much less expensive - which is always nice :). Then another friend of mine told me about an online course that was super helpful! I'd recommend it to anyone that uses photoshop.

What I love about digital scrapbooking:

• you can make anything any color you want
• all the freebies you can download - free paper, embellishments, etc, etc!
• you can do so much more with your pictures
• it's way faster (for me anyways)
• NO MESS!!!! I think this is my favorite part. I can work for awhile - then just save it and close the program - no pile of papers sitting on the table for days until I finish the layout!

Here's a couple of the layouts I made while taking the course: